Sapphires dominate early AACTAs winners

The Sapphires looks set to dominate this year’s AACTA Awards after dominating the categories announced at yesterday’s awards lunch.

The AACTAs – the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts – were held for the first time last year. Yesterday’s lunch at the Star casino in Sydney comes ahead of tomorrow night’s main AACTA ceremony.

The Sapphires won in five of the early categories, including best editing, sound and cinematography.

The event also paid tribute to producer Al Clark with the Raymond Longford Award. Clark was behind films including The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Absolute Beginners and Nineteen Eighty Four.

Tributes were also paid to producer Pat Lovell, who died over the weekend. Lovell was a producer on films including Picnic At Hanging Rock and Gallipoli.